Evolution of Man – Research made on where man first appeared

As regards the place of man’s origin there is a sharp difference of opinion. Some authorities would place that event in Africa, others favor Asia. On behalf of Africa it has been argued and this is the view to which Darwin lent his support that as it is the home of the great forest apes, the gorilla and the chimpanzee, it is the most probable region for man’s first appearance. The mere fact that the great apes have survived here is sufficient indication that the conditions of place and climate were favorable for such a development. Further support is afforded by the occurrence of fossil apes of primitive type and early age in the Egyptian fayum while Australopithecus usually referred to as the Taungs skull, discovered at the place of Taungs, South Africa, in the year of 1925 by well reputed person Professor Raymond Dart, comes to near the human line as to have been considered by its discoverer to be the missing link between the man and the apes. It may indeed represent a stage of development corresponding to that at which man’s ancestors were ceasing to be tree-dwellers. A later and still more advanced form was found by Dr. R. Broom during the period of July 1936. Although now generally held to be a chimpanzee like form, some authorities still regard the Taungs skull as within the line of human descent. On the other hand, there is much to be said for Asia as the region in which man evolved. In the foothills of the Himalayas known as the Siwalik Hills, the Miocene deposits have produced a large number of bones, the remains of fossil apes of various types. Of these Dryopithecus particularly in types recently found by an American expedition, comes very close to the human line. This is shown especially in the Professor W.K. Gregory, of New York, as ancestral in type to those of both man and the great apes. Dryopithecus, which in size is a giant among the fossil apes has also been found in the Tertiary deposits of France and on the Rhine. By this various studies and reports it is found that where man appeared first.